Saturday, November 17, 2012

hey arnalds!

for those of you who don't know olof - let me introduce you; think an icelandic vashti - folky (in a good way!), tender and simple. anyway, she needs your help - go to pledgethis to help her campaign to release her new album 'sudden elevation'. listen and love!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

sometimes she is just amazing

Sunday, November 11, 2012

francoise reviewed

i don't normally review albums - but i had so much to say about her new album 'l'amour fou' (released last week) that i needed to get it out!
the title track with its simple piano rift and with echos of' 'message personnel' (as she talks through much of it) gets it off to a good start then the next song HAS NO TUNE WHATSOEVER - to sum it up in one word would be 'dirge'. 'mal au coeur' at least has a tune but it reminds me of the dullest of francoise in the late 70s/early 80s. 'normandia' is one of the better songs - it feels like francoise in the better part of the 70s. the album is full of very simple piano melodies and this song makes good use of that. 'pourquoi vous' took time to like but now I really like it's gentleness. track 8, again keeps on with the simplistic piano motif with a familiar classic late 70s vibe. there are two main trains of thought i have when listening the album, the first , and I quote mama cass here ; "i'm waiting for a song that never comes" - many of the songs dont go anywhere, i keep waiting for them to do something, to pick up the pace or the melody but they just don't. the second thought is that at times she sounds bit like marianne faithful from the 80s - you can hear her age on this album, i'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing - it just seems to impact on her vocal range.
the album isn't awful, just very very disappointing.